Letters To The Editor
SPOKANE MATTERS
Series clients deserve break
In response to “Event ticket policy unfair” (Letters, July 20): There appears to be some confusion as to why “Les Miserables” tickets will not go on sale to non-subscribers until September 25th.
Most businesses show their appreciation to their dedicated patrons by giving them special benefits and rewards for their continued support. G&B Presents is no different.
One benefit of being a Best of Broadway subscriber is being offered tickets to any additional shows before they’re put on sale to the general public. Anyone can purchase a series seat of their own until September 24th and have the same privileges. We wouldn’t be able to bring shows such as “Les Miserables” or “Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” to Spokane for everyone to enjoy without the support of our series ticketholders. They deserve special treatment and will continue to receive it.
Promoters rent space from the Opera House or the arena and hire Select-A-Seat to sell tickets under the direction of the promoter. Individual promoters alone have control over when tickets go on sale. Linda Hanford and Randi Smith G&B Presents, Spokane
Sour grapes behind charges
Re: “Title company’s tactics assailed,” July 22:
Regarding the Spokane County Title Co., Spokane County Title Escrow and John Schreiner, the public needs to understand that the charges leveled by Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn are ridiculous and likely politically motivated as a result of persistent pressure from a major Spokane real estate closing attorney who has spent his time attacking these companies rather than strengthening his own business and becoming more competitive in a market that continues to decline.
The Spokane County Title Cos. and their employees strive to further their motto, “Service is the difference,” by providing reduced charges for real estate closings and refinances. Local real estate attorneys have charged a fee amounting to 1/2 percent of the sale amount split equally between buyer and seller.
Mr. Schreiner and his company are saving the people of our region hundreds of dollars and while he has undertaken this task, the attorney and a band of other closers choose to scheme, plant inflammatory lies within the real estate industry and plot ways to destroy his company, one that is trying to serve the public rather than take advantage of them.
Given the chance to defend the charges leveled by Commissioner Senn, they will be shown to be innocent and completely vindicated of any wrongdoing.
Spokane buyers and sellers should demand that the Spokane County Title Cos. be specified in their transactions, which will result in saving them money while receiving top-quality services. Ron Sayler, Realtor Spokane
Spokane, I’m out of here
Five years ago many of my friends were moving away from Spokane. I was always quick to defend Spokane. Now I know better.
These are but a few of the reasons why I, too, am moving to the Coast.
1. People worry about the air inside of a restaurant more than they do about the air outside. Apparently, the sanctity of a dining experience is more important than a child’s health.
2. Soon there will be three major malls. These undoubtedly will be offering more jobs to citizens than any other combined enterprises. Am I to assume the money acquired by them will furnish more than a handful of workers with full-time employment, competitive wages and benefits?
3. The houses developers built in the outlying areas of Spokane are not selling that well. Does this mean that once the malls have all hired their employees and more folks have jobs in a predominantly retail arena, they will be running out to buy homes that range from $50,000 to $150,000?
4. Per capita, crime in Spokane is ridiculously high and so far nobody has done anything to remedy the problem. With all that truly matters, I am disgusted to find that people are more concerned with the new bus plaza, “Pocahontas” and the success of Hoopfest. Tim Leyland Spokane
End all grass field burning
I want to go on record in support of banning grass field burning.
I grew up in Spokane and have memories of a time when the skies here were clear all summer and the only smoke was from barbecues. Three-and-a-half years ago my family and I moved back to Spokane after many years of living in the San Francisco area. What an irony that pollution is worse here in Spokane than the Bay Area, at least during field burning.
One of my children and I have allergies that are aggravated each summer by the burning activity. I’m not against business or farming, but I am in favor of restraints against individuals or businesses that create visual and health-threatening pollution to the extent the grass farmers do. Dean Marshall Spokane
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
End schizoid policy
When American farmers can’t get good prices for the commodities they grow, our leaders tell the farmers the government will subsidize them so they can compete in the world market.
On the other hand, when American workers can’t get good wages for the work they perform, our leaders tell the workers they may have to accept even lower wages so they can compete in the world economy.
In the name of consistency, I urge that we subsidize both or neither. Bill First Spokane
Republicans have secret weapon
In keeping with the spirit of radical right wing shadow government paranoia and leftover left wing tales of corporate power conspiracies, consider this: Clinton is a ringer for the Republicans.
Big-money sensed that Bush was a loser in 1992 and secretly groomed and financed Mr. Bill. He soon became the duly elected front man for the ruling elite.
Farfetched? Then also consider this:
President Clinton, the supposed leader of moderate New Democrats, often makes Nixon look liberal. He shifted his party away from liberal-left lobbies representing people to a center-right group representing money. He sold out labor and the environmentalists on NAFTA and GATT. He dumped Lani Guinier, Joycelyn Elders and others who were politically incorrect to right-wingers.
Clinton now sings along with the Bible thumpers choir on school prayer. He joined the Gingrich gang in scapegoating single mothers, immigrants and the poor.
Clinton managed to discredit health care reform and made sure medical care will remain a profiteer’s paradise. And he set the stage for control of Congress by the Republicans in 1994.
His plans for the next two years include increased military spending, continued corporate welfare programs and tax breaks, loosened environmental laws, further restrictions on constitutional rights and deep cuts in social programs.
In short, Clinton’s allowed the right to achieve what it only dreamed about under Nixon, Reagan and Bush.
Had he been elected, could Bush have done as well? Russ Moritz Sandpoint
Welfare: No more handouts
Only after suffering from environmental crisis have we learned we must give back some of what we take if we expect this earth to sustain life as we know it for our children and beyond.
Obviously, the same philosophy must be applied to welfare reform if any reform is going to take place. Those who take must give back.
My knowledge of the system includes the fact that money received from grant programs do not need to be claimed as income on tax returns. If a banking institution loaned money without collecting interest, the entire system would fail. It only seems right that those who need money and receive it from the welfare fund that is collected from taxpaying citizens should pay taxes on that money, putting back some, if only a fraction, of what they needed.
Deficit seems to be the norm in American government while those of us who live ordinary lives live by the ordinary rules - you give back what you take, whether it be a bank loan or returning a kind favor. The practice of giving money without the slightest inclination of repayment fosters generation after generation of welfare recipients who believe the money is there for the taking and never learn any type of responsibility.
The current welfare system is just one giant rich grandpa in the sky who keeps sending birthday checks without so much as a thank you note. Welfare should be reformed, not abolished, back to its basic philosophy: a help out, not a handout. Michae’l Alegria Spokane
Don’t opt for higher taxation
Back in the early 1980s when I was a Stevens County commissioner I looked into the possibility of going to a charter county government, with the idea that we would be out from under the state’s mandates and could regulate our own lives.
My research indicated that local governments cannot avoid any state mandates by going to a charter government. However, it does enable local governments to increase the tax and regulatory burden. In other words, make things worse rather than better.
I’d suggest voting no on consolidated government. You’d only be going from bad to worse. John Hodde Colville, Wash.
THE ENVIRONMENT
Term ‘conservation’ misused
The Spokesman-Review keeps mislabeling environmentalists. In a July 22 Associated Press story, “Senate approves controversial logging bill,” a Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) spokesman refers to members of his and similar groups as “environmentalists.” The subhead of the story, however, written by someone at The Spokesman-Review, calls such organizations “conservation groups.” That’s wrong.
Webster’s dictionary defines conservation as the planned management of natural resources. That is the opposite of what such groups as the NRDC, Sierra Club, Audubon Society and the Inland Empire Public Land Council want. They oppose human intervention and ignore such forest experts as Dr. Jay O’Laughlin, University of Idaho, who says management is the only solution for our sick and dead public forests, created by the environmentalists’ endless propaganda, lobbying, appeals and lawsuits to block any intervention.
Those fighting to let billions of board feet of dead and dying timber rot instead of allowing it to be salvaged are not conservationists. Not only would a valuable resource be wasted, but dead trees breed disease and insects that infest healthy trees. They are also kindling for more wildfires, which destroy still more trees and wildlife forage, pollute streams with ash and erosion from denuded hillsides, and destroy natural beauty.
People who want that are environmentalists - acolytes of the religion of environmentalism, a theosophy - who worship wild nature. The least The Spokesman-Review can do is to call things by their right names. Edwin G. Davis, vice president The Umbrella Group, Spokane
PEOPLE IN SOCIETY
Promise Keepers dollar reapers
Regarding the guest column of July 23: At $55 each from 65,000 attendees, Promise Keepers is a modified “Ponzi tonic” for a sicker segment of society. Was the theme song “Ringing in the Sheep”? Edward Thomas Jr. Spokane
No excuse for racism
Racism has always been a concept impossible for me to swallow. After reading the numerous articles in the Saturday Spokesman-Review and seeing the photographs on the front page, I was again left feeling sick to my stomach and hurt.
There is no excuse for racism. Losing faith in our government is no reason to discriminate against people of other races.
Richard Butler claims “white people need to be proud of their cultural heritage.” Is he referring to when the white men came to America and stole the land from the Native Americans, calling it their own? Or does he mean when whites thought it was perfectly OK to use African Americans as their personal slaves? If you ask me, that is nothing to be proud of.
Give me a break. This is 1995 and we need to appreciate all cultures and nationalities, stop racism, end hate crimes and cease the spreading of Aryan beliefs. To me, a young white female, Butler, Beam and Lane, among others, appear to be nothing more than ignorant fools, not leaders of anything legitimate at all. Christine Wilson Spokane
Perversity rampant in attitudes
In Rebecca Nappi’s article about Gov. Mike Lowry having to pay $97,500 to settle a sexual harassment claim she makes some very good points, such as how his wife and children must feel. She also makes reference to the Clarence Thomas case.
While it’s true that high-profile cases have served, to some extent, to set the tone for some office behavior, we forget quickly. I’ve seen many work situations where women have been sexually harassed, and management does nothing. Usually it is woe to the person who complains to superiors about being sexually harassed. Coworkers do not speak out because of fear of retaliation, or don’t care because it’s not happening to them.
Some men view women who stand on their own two feet, who have a “mind of their own” as being independent or aggressive. You never hear a man speak of another man as being independent. Why is that?
Do we live in such a sick society that people like Hugh Grant can get arrested for soliciting a prostitute - remarkably just the same week his new movie was coming out - and the next time you see him on television, he’s getting mobbed for his autograph? What message is that sending to the new generations? Most likely this was a publicity stunt. Remember Vanessa Williams? Her career really took off when her little “scandal” happened. And may I remind you that for all his publicity, Clarence Thomas is still on the Supreme Court?
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Karen Hudson Spokane
Enjoy victuals with a view
This is for Leslie Duncan, who wrote the article about dining alone (IN Life, July 23). Since I have been dining alone for most of my life (I am 68), I thought I might have some advice for this young woman.
First, as long as you have your own money and behave with good manners and dignity, you are not a disgrace to the human race if you dine alone. If you choose to read while waiting to be served, it’s really nobody’s business but your own.
Second, don’t concentrate so much on your situation. I don’t suggest that you stare at other people, but you can learn to discreetly observe what is going on around you. It might surprise you to learn that:
People who have been married a long time often have little to say to each other as they dine. They’ve said it all a hundred times before.
Parents who dine with their children are so busy supervising their children’s behavior they usually have no time to enjoy their meal. But they do enjoy their children, so that makes up for it.
People out on first dates are not necessarily enjoying themselves. They may be boring each other to death and eager for the evening to end.
In other words, the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence, and the sooner you learn this the more enjoyable your life will be. Learn to relax and enjoy the passing world as you dine alone. Dorothy Carter Spokane
FIREARMS
Safety’s price can be too high
Walter Becker, citing “public safety” (Letters, July 13), wants to take our guns away, especially semiautomatic firearms, which he falsely calls “assault rifles” to deliberately frighten the public. Many of these guns, used in 0.25 of 1 percent of crimes, are back on the market with government approval.
Becker’s rhetoric is eerily reminiscent of Adolf Hitler’s. Hitler, calling for “safer streets” and “police efficiency,” disarmed Germany and then Europe. The rest, including the Holocaust, is history.
Benjamin Franklin said, “They that give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety.” Curtis E. Stone Colville, Wash.